Tuesday, January 01, 2008

The Deporter by Ames Holbrook

This book is as close of a glimpse into the world of DHS as the reader is apt to see. We sometimes forget that Federal officers like all humans are flawed. The problem is that Holbrook went to work with a Batman type persona. We are not super heroes and anyone with that mentality is ill suited to the work at hand.

The system is frustrating, ponderous and filled with idiots in policy and management. One has to follow orders rules and procedures or you will have a short career. All too often we hear about the corrupt selling the office for trinkets. Holbrook did not sell his office for trinkets, and oddly the powers that be would be more merciful if he were mercenary.

I enjoy the older more veteran workers. Those that survive understand this is a job. All we can do is our best within the framework of laws and procedures. There is no room for Batman types, only types who do there very best within the framework of the law.

I am happiest when I meet a couple with kids and a vision. The story of a young couple trying their best to build the dream. Like all of us the couples are different and it takes time to understand that. There is alot of good at work mixed with the foul and the inane. However, much of the same can be said about most jobs.

The Deporter is a good book that speaks on a human level to the inner conflicts of people in my line of work. All of us have those moments where we wonder about short cuts. Short cuts, Cowboyism and Corruption will end a career quite quickly.

3 comments:

I have been an officer for almost three years. At the district level the danger is real and dealt with very seriously.

At a center there are times we bumble into something larger. People are not as smart as they think. Yet the highlight of my day is serving the young couple with the bright future ahead. Catching criminals and fraud artists is a side line.

We take every lead seriously knowing that most of them are false. However, doing our best within the law is all officers should aspire to.

About Me

I am a Rudy Republican . The
peril of being a moderate is
that at times you get hit from
both sides. Some say I am at the edge of the great GOP tent. Radical leftists call me a rightwing extreemist.Yet in the end all we can ever be
is ourselves.